Doughnut cop

Veteran lawman opens indulgent shop in Collierville

Thomas Bailey, a DeSoto County Sheriff's Department veteran, has opened Indulge Cupcakery and Donut Bar in Collierville and donates what's not sold to local police and fire departments.

Kyle Kurlick/Special to The Commercial Appeal

Veteran police officer Thomas Bailey has spent countless hours in doughnut shops over the years. But he was not contributing to some stereotype.

He was doing research.

In October, Bailey, 40, opened Indulge Cupcakery and Donut Bar on Poplar Avenue in Collierville, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

"My great-grandfather owned Lilly's Bakery on Second Street in Memphis back in the '30s to maybe 1967. I remember my dad telling me when I was little how it was for him as a kid going into the bakery and knowing he could have

anything in the store he wanted to eat. He would tell me how they had a glass window that he would sit in front of and he could watch them baking," Bailey said.

Although the bakery closed before Bailey was born, it was those childhood stories that made Bailey always want to own a bakery, even though he never thought he would actually do it. Instead he went into a career in law enforcement and has served on both the Olive Branch Police Department and the DeSoto County Sheriff's Department.

"Bakers are always bringing doughnuts and pastries to the police department and doughnut shops always give discounts to cops," he said.

It's a tradition Bailey has continued. A few times a week, when he has baked more than he has sold, Bailey packs up the remainder and takes them to Collierville and Shelby County police and fire stations. Several of his cousins serve in the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

"When I was with the Olive Branch Police Department, I would go into City Bakery and got to know the guy that owned it. He told me a lot about the business. I learned it could be very profitable," he said.

Bailey describes Indulge as a cross between traditional doughnut shops and specialty cupcake bakeries with a few twists. His "doughnut bar" allows a customer to dress "naked" doughnuts and cupcakes with the icing and candies of their choice.

"I spent a lot of hours at doughnut shops watching how they ran their business at different times of the day and learning about cupcake places and what works for them," Bailey said.

His original business plan was just doughnuts, afraid the cupcake craze that began a few years ago might be just a passing fad. But in the years he spent coming up with the shop's concept, name, design -- and more recently custom display cases and color schemes -- he realized creative cupcakes were a business model that was going to stick.

The only thing Bailey was not fully prepared for were the hours.

"I was a K-9 officer, and I was used to just walking out the door, getting my dog out of the backyard, putting in an eight-hour shift and coming home," he said.

Those days are gone. Bailey puts in 12 to 14 hours a day seven days a week at Indulge.

"Even when I'm not here, I'm thinking about it. When I'm sleeping I'm dreaming about it," he said.

Collierville resident Steve Anderson Jr. has been making it a point to stop in once a week even if he is just picking up something to go.

"They take the time to talk to customers and have gone out of their way. One day I went in totally craving Bavarian Cream. They were sold out of éclairs and cream-filled donuts, so they took a chocolate covered twist donut and smeared Bavarian Cream all over the top of it for me. It was divine," Anderson said.

Anderson also brings his children to the bakery often.

"My son loves the éclairs and my daughter has fun with the 'make your own' cupcakes," he said.